ADOLFO MEJIA

(1905 - 1973)

Adolfo Mejía was born in Cartagena de Indias, where he began his musical studies at an early age at the Instituto Musical de Cartagena. In 1930 he visited New York to record his compositions with the Columbia recording company. After returning to his homeland in 1933 he worked as a librarian in Bogotá and studied at the National Conservatory. In 1938 Mejía won the Ezequiel Bernal prize for his composition, Pequeña Suite, and thus gained a scholarship to study in Paris at the Ecole Normale de Musique with Nadia Boulanger, Dukas and Koechlin. Returning to Cartagena he worked as a conductor and teacher. In 1970 he was awarded the National Composition Prize from the Instituto Colombiano de Cultura, and the University of Cartagena recognized his stature in Colombian cultural life with an honorary doctorate.